Patent 8235997 was granted and assigned to Pioneer Surgical Technology on August, 2012 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Instruments and methods are provided for securing a spinal rod in one or more coupling devices secured to the spine by one or more anchor members. The instruments include members for grasping the coupling device and members for shifting one or more elements along a linear path to fix the position of an anchor member and/or fix the position of the rod with respect to the vertebra.